Terracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a child

Terracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a child

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Figurines of seated and standing nurses with babies became popular in the fourth century B.C. This specific type is a later one and reflects the interest in realism in the Early Hellenistic period. Its invention was probably due to the influence of the so-called New Comedy that began in Athens at this time and in which the child-holding nurse was a common character.

Greek and Roman Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Terracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a childTerracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a childTerracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a childTerracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a childTerracotta statuette of an old nurse holding a child

The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 B.C.) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans.